Program: Cyrille Aimée

Cyrille Aimée

ArtPower at UC San Diego presents performing arts that engage, energize, and transform the diverse cultural life of the university and San Diego.

Through vibrant, challenging, multi-disciplinary performances, ArtPower seeks to develop more empathetic students and community members who are better prepared to engage in the world around them through their participation in highquality artistic, educational, and engagement programs that broaden thinking and awareness, deepen understanding, and encourage new dialogues across UC San Diego and the community.

OUR IMPACT • ArtPower brings artists from around the world into UC San Diego classrooms • ArtPower provides students with free artist master classes • ArtPower integrates artist-led discussions into on-campus curricula.

Jazz/USA

About the Artist

ArtPower presents

Improvisation is not just a technique for vocalist Cyrille Aimée. It’s a way of life, one that has not only allowed her to share her engaging voice and sparkling creativity with the world but has led her on an unexpected journey.

Cyrille Aimée February 14, 2023 at 8 pm The Loft Cyrille Aimée, vocals Max Gerl, bass Sam Hirsh, piano Pedro Segundo, drums

By opening herself to the whim of the moment, Aimée has ventured from singing on street corners in Europe to dazzling audiences at some of the world’s most prestigious jazz festivals. She has been hailed by the Wall Street Journal as "one of the most promising jazz singers of her generation" and called a “rising star in the galaxy of jazz singers” by the New York Times.

That adventure began in the small town of Samoissur-Seine in France, where the young Cyrille Aimée (Sur-real M-A) was introduced to a wealth of diverse music by her French father and Dominican mother: everything from Michael Jackson to French chanson, Flamenco to country-western.

Aimée’s passion for music and inherent curiosity led her to a discovery that would change her life. As the site of the annual Django Reinhardt Festival, Samois played host to an annual gathering of gypsies, and their fireside sing-alongs would lure the precocious Cyrille out of her bedroom window after her parents had gone to sleep. Those experiences exposed Aimée not just to the joys of gypsy jazz, which would go on to be an important color in her rich palette of influences, but more importantly to the gypsies’ spontaneous, nomadic and music-filled way of life.

It was the idea and unlimited potential of improvisation that set Aimée on her course, and the desire to pursue that in-the-moment creation inevitably led her to jazz. She attended the American School of Modern Music in Paris and garnered her first taste of fame—or, perhaps more accurately, notoriety – when she was selected as one of 16 semifinalists for Star Academy, the French equivalent of American Idol. When she realized how restrictive the show’s contract would be, however, she opted to walk away, igniting a scandal in the French media.

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Aimée escaped the spotlight but was soon drawn to the U.S., where she attended SUNY Purchase on scholarship—in large part due to its proximity to the jazz hub of Manhattan.

She honed her skills through weekly gigs at at Birdland Jazz Club; during that time she also became a regular at Smalls Jazz Club in Greenwich Village, where pianist/co-owner Spike Wilner and saxophonist Joel Frahm took her under their wings.

At the famed Montreux Jazz Festival in 2007, Aimée won the vocal competition, recording her debut album with the prize money. It was the first of many such accolades to come, including winning the Sarah Vaughn International Jazz Vocal Competition and becoming a finalist in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal.

Released in 2008, Cyrille Aimée and the Surreal Band immediately spotlighted the singer’s winsome charm, supple voice and stylistic diversity, incorporating buoyant swing, French and Latin tinges, and graceful touches of folk and pop. In the ensuing years she would continue to hone and expand those influences, integrating elements of Brazilian music, gypsy jazz, and singer-songwriter traditions. A pair of duo albums with Brazilian guitarist Diego Figueiredo followed, along with live dates captured at Birdland and Smalls, the latter featuring trumpet great Roy Hargrove, and an ebullient date with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra.

In 2014 Aimée made her major label debut with the release of It’s A Good Day on Mack Avenue Records. Her quintet featured two remarkable guitarists: the contemporary jazz sound of French-Italian Michael Valeanu and the gypsy-flavored steel strings of Adrien Moignard. The same band returned for Aimée’s follow-up, 2016’s highly acclaimed Let’s Get Lost, providing a fruitful outlet for her wide-ranging talents as they toured the world over the last several years.

In 2018, Aimée ended a chapter in her remarkable journey with the release of Cyrille Aimée Live (Mack Avenue Records). Receiving widespread critical acclaim from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, this release served as the finale of her longstanding band while bidding a fond adieu to the material recorded and presented in the previous 5 years in a live setting. Always looking for the next adventure, Aimée quickly shifted to her 2019 release, Move On: A Sondheim Adventure (Mack Avenue Records), celebrating the legendary Broadway songwriter Stephen Sondheim.

In 2020, she recorded Just You, Just Me, a Patreon exclusive self-release, co-led with pianist Ryan Hanseler. In 2021, she was invited to participate as featured artist on Adonis Rose and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra’s release Petite Fleur. She also reunited with guitarist Michael Valeanu for a vocal and guitar only recording, I’ll Be Seeing You. She has taken to telling her own story to audiences and students alike, from TEDx talks to speaking at the Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado Boulder. She teaches master classes for aspiring musicians, emphasizing an aware and spontaneous life over technique and rote repetition.

She currently divides her time between New Orleans and Costa Rica, focusing more intently than ever before on her own songwriting, taking her music in fresh new directions.

As always for Cyrille Aimée, the only thing that’s certain is that she’ll find a creative spark and a new pathway from whatever happens next.

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Program

ARTPOWER DONORS 2022–23 CATALYST ($20,000+)

Judith Bachner and Eric Lasley Elaine Galinson Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation Bobbie and Jon Gilbert Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation Patricia and Christopher Weil of The Weil Family Foundation The Parker Foundation

CREATOR ($10,000–19,999)

Phyllis and Daniel Epstein Ronald and Wynona Goldman Jack Lampl New England Foundation for the Arts Charles and Marilyn Perrin George Clement Perkins Endowment

ADVOCATE ($2,500–9,999)

Joan J. Bernstein ArtPower Student Engagement Endowment Fund Maureen and C. Peter Brown Anne Marie Pleska and Luc Cayet Josephine Kiernan and Bjorn Bjerede In Memory of Jennifer A. Dennis Martha and Edward Dennis Renita Greenberg and Jim Allison Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore Barbara and Sam Takahashi Hamburger Chamber Music Series Endowment Fund Jack Lampl Eva and Doug Richman Ruth S. Stern ArtPower Student Engagement Fund

SPARK ($250–499)

James and Kathleen Stiven Jess and Meg Mandel Barry and Jennfer Greenberg Mary L. Beebe Charles Reilly K. Andrew Achterkirchen Paulyne D. Becerra Turea Z. Erwin Samuel and Theresa Buss Natalee C. Ellars Maya Ridinger

YORK SOCIETY

Donors who make provisions for ArtPower in their estate Joyce Axelrod and Joseph Fisch Judith Bachner and Eric Lasley Ruth Stern Kathryn Sturch

ARTPOWER STAFF DONORS Carolena Deutsch-Garcia Jordan Peimer Kathryn Sturch

FOUNDATION/CORPORATE SPONSORS CORPORATE SPONSORS

New England Foundation for the Arts The Parker Foundation Consulate General of Israel Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore

GUARDIAN ($1,000–2,499)

Joyce Axelrod and Joseph Fisch Janice Steinberg and John Cassidy Marilyn Colby Beverly Freemont Kim Signoret-Paar

CONTRIBUTOR ($500–999) Janice Alper Janice and Nelson Byrne Consulate General of Israel Charles Kantor Marilies Schoelflin Connie Beardsley Phyllis and Edward Mirsky Sharon Perkowski Felize Levine

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POWERPLAYERS

PowerPlayers are an exceptional group of donors that have made a three year commitment to support ArtPower.

Joyce Axelrod and Joseph Fisch Joan Bernstein Marilyn Colby Martha and Ed Dennis Phyllis and Daniel Epstein Elaine Galinson Bobbie and Jon Gilbert Renita Greenberg and Jim Alison Eric Lasley and Judith Bachner Sharon Perkowski Kim Signoret-Paar Paul and Edith H. Sanchez Pat Weil and Christopher Weil A portion of funding for ArtPower is provided by the UC San Diego Student Services Fee Committee.

Donor list and PowerPlayer list reflecting gifts and pledges allocated for September 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022.

ARTPOWER STAFF

Joanna Christian, Associate Director of Marketing & Communications, Campus Performance and Events Office Carolena Deutsch-Garcia, Associate Director of Development Jennifer Mancano, Events & Performing Arts Business Manager Jordan Peimer, Artistic Director Colleen Kollar Smith, Executive Director, Campus Performance and Events Office Kathryn Sturch, Production Manager Alyssa Villaseñor, Marketing Manager

Student Staff Marketing and Graphic Design Assistants Ashley Asadi ‘24 Holden Bailey ‘23 Yumei Feng ‘23 Tiffany Liang ‘23 Rachel Paner ‘24 Hieu Phan ‘25 Hao Wang ‘24 Events Promotions Assistants Paloma Diaz ‘24 Rain Dong ‘25 Ishiba Dube ‘26 Kathleen Hoang ‘25 Kellie Huang, ‘25 Kaylie Lam ‘25 Kristy Lee ‘23 Julie Li ‘25 Martica Manuel, ‘26 Alice Nguyen ‘26 Anne Nguyen ‘25 Niko Parker ‘24 Kadie Qi ‘25 Heidi Shin ‘25 Angela Wu ‘24 Sasha Zabegalin ‘24 Media Assistants Diego Pereya ‘26 Kieran Vu ‘25 Jules Yap ‘23

BECOME AN ARTPOWER SUPPORTER TODAY & ENJOY VALUABLE BENEFITS!

As we move into the new ArtPower 2022–23 live arts season, the generosity of our donors quite literally helps make our performances possible. Our donors also get to enjoy valuable benefits, see more here: bit.ly/artpower-benefits. Make a gift today by easily scanning the QR code.

Thank you for making ArtPower performances possible! All inquiries can be directed to our Associate Director of Development, carolena@ucsd.edu.

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Program

Brandon Coleman Tuesday, February 28 at 8 pm | The Loft Tickets: $30–45 | UCSD Student: $9 OPENING BY PROFESSOR KING BRITT (DJ SET) (BLACKTONIKA)

Keyboard maestro, vocalist, composer, producer, arranger and astral traveler Brandon Coleman leads a journey through "Interstellar Black Space," a new electronic funk odyssey.

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